Lidl has trounced its supermarket rivals in terms of price as it makes its debut as a guest retailer in this week’s Grocer 33.

It also debunked the myth that discounters are all about price by coming in second for service and availability.

Read more about The Grocer 33 here.

Lidl’s Grocer 33 shopping basket came to £49.23, £8.60 (15%) cheaper than second- placed Morrisons, and more than £10 cheaper than Asda, which has been the cheapest of the main supermarkets in our survey in each of the last 17 years.

In terms of service and availability, Lidl’s total of 78/100 at its High Wycombe store was just one point behind this week’s winning store - Tesco Extra Streatham. It tied with Waitrose and beat Morrisons (75), Asda (73) and Sainsbury’s (69).

“We’re proud to be able to offer an enjoyable shopping experience to our customers through our efficient and straightforward store operations,” said a Lidl spokeswoman. “We manage our stock volumes very closely to ensure maximum availability of products, and all our store staff are trained on multiple aspects of the shop floor so they are able to help customers quickly and efficiently with any queries.”

Kantar Retail insights director Bryan Roberts said Lidl was evolving. “The results reflect the fact that Lidl is successfully implementing its hybrid ‘discount supermarket’ model, providing a compelling mixture of generally low prices on both private label and branded items combined with one-off price reductions and multibuys,” he explained. “While this is moving Lidl away from its hard discount heritage, t This softer, more promotional, approach is clearly paying dividends in terms of recruiting new shoppers, boosting frequency and upping basket size.”